[3][4][5] She is remembered as a gay civil rights icon and entertainer, who performed and hosted at the Apollo Theater and Radio City Music Hall.

[3] She worked for much of her life as an MC, singer, bouncer, bodyguard, and volunteer street patrol worker, the "guardian of lesbians in the Village".

Accounts of people who witnessed the scene, including letters and news reports of the woman who fought with police, conflicted.

Where witnesses claim one woman who fought her treatment at the hands of the police caused the crowd to become angry, some also remembered several "butch lesbians" had begun to fight back while still in the bar.

Craig Rodwell (in Duberman, p. 197) claims the arrest of the woman was not the primary event that triggered the violence, but one of several simultaneous occurrences: "there was just ... a flash of group—of mass—anger."

After an officer picked her up and heaved her into the back of the wagon, the crowd became a mob and went "berserk": "It was at that moment that the scene became explosive."

[3][6] "Nobody knows who threw the first punch, but it's rumored that she did, and she said she did," said Lisa Cannistraci, a friend of DeLarverie and owner of the Village lesbian bar Henrietta Hudson.

[19][20] The revue regularly played the Apollo Theater in Harlem,[21] as well as to mixed-race audiences, something that was still rare during the era of Racial segregation in the United States.

[13][23] In 1987 Michelle Parkerson released the first cut of the movie, Stormé: The Lady of the Jewel Box, about DeLarverie and her time with the revue.

[19] With her theatrical experience in costuming, performance and makeup, biracial DeLarverie could pass as either a man or a woman, Black or white.

[17] Offstage, she cut a striking, handsome, androgynous presence, and inspired other lesbians to adopt what had formerly been considered "men's" clothing as street wear.

For decades DeLarverie served the community as a volunteer street patrol worker, the "guardian of lesbians in the Village.

"[5] Tall, androgynous and armed – she held a state gun permit – Ms. DeLarverie roamed lower Seventh and Eighth Avenues and points between into her 80s, patrolling the sidewalks and checking in at lesbian bars.

'"[10] For several decades, DeLarverie lived at New York City's famous Hotel Chelsea,[28][29][30] where she "thrived on the atmosphere created by the many writers, musicians, artists, and actors.

[31][32] The SNM is the first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ rights and history,[33] and the wall's unveiling was timed to take place during the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.

On April 24, 2014, DeLarverie was honored alongside Edith Windsor by the Brooklyn Community Pride Center,[8] "for her fearlessness and bravery"[9] and was also presented with a proclamation from New York City Public Advocate, Letitia James.